Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C.

Full name	Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club
Founded	1906
Ground	Bloomfield Stadium, Tel Aviv; (capacity: 29,400)
Chairman	Mitchell Goldhar
Manager	Robbie Keane
League	Israeli Premier League

Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club (Hebrew: מועדון כדורגל מכבי תל אביבcode: he is deprecated ; Moadon Kaduregel Maccabi Tel Aviv) is an Israeli football club. It is one of the oldest clubs in Israeli football. The club is also the most successful. They have won 18 championships, 22 national cups, 2 Asian Champions Cups ^[1] and 3 Toto cups. The homeground of the team is the Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv, where also the city rival Hapoel Tel Aviv is playing.

History

The club was founded in 1906. It was the first Jewish football club in Ottoman Palestine. The name was then Rishon Lezion-Yafo. The first match was a 3-0 win against a team of French sailors. After the foundation of Tel Aviv in 1909 the clubs name was changed into Maccabi Tel Aviv. Maccabi was founding member of the Palestine Football Association and the Palestine League.

Maccabi Tel Aviv in Australia, 1939

In 1936 the club was invited to play in the United States. On the way Maccabi played in France versus Racing Paris and Olympique Lille. In the United States they played against an All-star team of New York City at Yankee Stadium. Maccabi also defeated the American Soccer League team in Brooklyn and Philadelphia on their home ground 1–0. Other matches were against St. Louis Stars and the Boston Celtics. They played also in Canada, where they drew 1–1 with Toronto All-Stars. In 1939 they played 18 matches in Australia.

After the independence in 1948 Tel Aviv was the most successful club in Israel's top league.

The 1950s decade is considered to be their "golden age" because they won 5 league championships and 4 cups. The club was almost relegated in 1976 but beat Beitar Jerusalem in the relegation play-off.

In the 2011/12 season they reached the group stage of the UEFA Europa League. The team played versus PSV Eindhoven, Rapid Bucharest and Legia Warsaw. They failed to reach the next stage (2 wins, 1 draw, 3 lost).

Current team

As of 13 October 2011

No.		Position	Player
1	GK	Israel	Barak Levi
2	DF	Israel	Klemi Saban
3	DF	Israel	Uri Cohen
4	DF	File:Flag of Brazil.svg Brazil	Nivaldo (2nd VC)
5	DF	Israel	Yagil Biton
6	MF	Israel	Gal Alberman
7	MF	Israel	Guillermo Israilevich
9	FW	Israel	Barak Itzhaki (Captain)
10	MF	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Haris Medunjanin
11	MF	Israel	Eli Zizov
13	FW	Israel	Moanes Dabour
14	DF	Israel	Yoav Ziv
15	MF	Israel	Dor Micha
16	FW	Israel	Eliran Atar
17	DF	Montenegro	Savo Pavićević
18	FW	Senegal	Moussa Konaté

No.		Position	Player
19	MF	Israel	Roi Kahat
20	FW	Israel	Dia Saba
21	MF	Israel	Shiran Yeini (1st VC)
23	MF	Israel	Moshe Lugasi
24	FW	Israel	Roberto Colautti
25	MF	Israel	Rafi Dahan
26	DF	Israel	Avi Strul
27	DF	Israel	Omer Vered
29	MF	Israel	Rif Peretz
30	MF	Israel	Omri Shkel
31	GK	Israel	Yossi Ginzburg
42	DF	Israel	Rahamim Checkol
43	MF	Israel	Ruslan Barski
44	DF	Croatia	Roberto Punčec
45	MF	Israel	Tom Mansharov
55	GK	Israel	Guy Haimov

In an Israel team only 5 foreigners are allowed. The foreigners are:

Honours

Israeli championships
- Winners (25):^[2] 1935–36, 1936–37, 1938–39, 1941–42, 1946–47, 1949–50, 1951–52, 1953–54, 1955–56, 1957–58, 1966–68, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1991–92, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2002–03, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2023–24
State Cup
- Winners (24)^[3] 1928–29, 1929–30, 1932–33, 1940–41, 1945–46, 1946–47, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1966–67, 1969–70, 1976–77, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1993–94, 1995–96, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2004–05, 2014–15, 2020–21
Asian Club Championship
- Winners (2) 1968–69, 1970–71
Toto Cup
- Winners (3) 1992–93, 1998–99, 2008–09
Israeli Supercup
- Winners (5)^[4] 1964–65 (shared cup with Hakoah Ramat Gan), 1967–68, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1987–88